Vehicle-spring.



P. L. TITUS.

VEHlCLE SPRING.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 12, 1916.

LQQLIUQ, Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

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TOFFTCE.

lPHENNU L. TITU'S, OF JPJETROJLIN, PENNSYLVANIA.

VEHICLE-SPRING.

marina.

Specification of Letters Patent.

application filed July 12, 1916. Serial No. 108,900.

To all whom a may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHENNo L. TrrUs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Petrolia, in the county of Butler and State of Pennsylvania,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vehicle- Springs,of which the following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings.

This invention relates to springs designed for vehicles andparticularlyto leaf springs.

The general object of the invention is the provision of a spring inwhich the leaves will be progressively tensioned so that the load willnot come upon the upper or shorter leaves until the longer or lowerleaves have been loaded down or tensioned to a certain extent, and afurther object is to so construct the spring that the adjacent leaveswill only touch at one point for a short portion of their length until aconsiderable load has come upon the leaves so that the area of contactbetween the adjacent leaves will be increased gradually as the loadincreases.

A further object is to so construct these leaves that they will not 'beliable to break when strain comes upon them.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of of my improved spring; 1

Fig. 2 is a like view of another form of spring; and

Fig. 3 is a like view of still another form one form of spring andconstructed in accordance with my invention.

Referring to Fig. 1, which illustrates one form of my invention 10, 11,12 and 13 designate four leaf springs gradually decreasing in lengthfrom the springs to the springs 13. These springs are spaced fromeachother by washers or spacing members 14 disposed between the severalleaves at the middle of the spring and the springs and washers areconnected to each other and to the vehicle or other body to which thesprings are to be applied by any suitable means as by the U-shaped bolts15 and the central bolt 16. It will be noted that in this form of theinvention all of the leaves spaced for the greater portion of theirlength from the adjacent leaves. In Fig. 2 I show the same idea asapplied to a double spring. Each spring comprises the leaves arenormally lPatentedhpr.3,101't.

10, 11, 12 and 13 (or any other suitable number) spaced from each otherby smcing members 1-1, the longest leaves of each set being shackled toeach other at their extremities as at 17. In Fig. 3 I show what Ibelieve to be the preferred form of my invention in which 10, 11 12 and13 each other by washers at the middle of the leaves, but by -integralbosses or thickened portions 17 the thickened portion or boss at themiddle of one leaf resting against the face of the middle portion of thenext-adja cent leaf. These integral bosses or thickened portions 17 arebeveled as at 18 and the leaves are connected to each other in anysuitable manner as by the central bolt 19. The leaf l0 may either beconnected to the axle or to the body of the vehicle as found mostsuitable and in all other respects the composite springs which I havedescribed above may be used in precisely the same manner as ordinarysprings and in all situations where bowed springs may he used, it beingobvious that I am not limited in the application of these with vehicles.7

In actual practice it has been found that these springs add very much tothe ease and comfort of riding and the particular construction is suchthat the springs absorb shocks Very effectively. When a load is placedupon the middle of the spring the longest leaf will be first deflectedor straight-. ened and placed under tension and then as the load-is.increased the extremities of the second leaf will engage the adjacentface of the longest leaf and as the spring is still further deflectedthe area of contact of this second leaf with the first leaf will begradually increased; meanwhile the second leaf are not spaced from hasengaged the extremities of the third leaf faces 18 of the spacingmembers or bosses reduce the chances of breaking the leaves. While inFig. 1,

l[ have illustrated the spacing members as being separate from theleaves, ll wish it understood that they may be attached to the leaves ifdesired or,

the several bowed leaves 7 springs to their use as in Fig. 3, formed asintegral parts of the leaves, and the term spacing members ashereinafter used, it is designed to include, not only a spacing memberwhich is separate from a leaf but a spacing member formed operativelyengaged with each other at the middle of the spring but being uniformlyspaced from and out of operative engagement with each other for theremainder of their length under normal conditions, whereby to secure endcontact between the leaves and progressive flexure of the leaves as thespring is deflected.

2. A composite spring comprising a plurality of superposed bowed leaves,the leaves being progressively shorter in one direction, and meansdisposed between the leaves'at the middle of the spring for spacing saidsprings from each other .uniformly throughout the remainder of theirentire extent and out of operative engagement with each other undernormal conditions whereby to cause end contact between the leaves andprogressive flexure of the leaves under load.

3. Acomposite vehicle springcomprising a plurality of bowed leaves, theleaves becoming progressively shorter from the base a leaf upward ordownward, spacing members, spacing the leaves from each other at themiddle of the spring, the leaves being so formed that under normalconditions the leaves are spaced from and out of operative engagementwith each other, the extremities of one leaf will be initially engagedby the fiexure of the leaf below, and the area of contact between theleaves will increase as the strain increases.

4. A composite vehicle spring comprising a plurality of superposed bowedleaves, the leaves bemg progressively shorter in one direction, one ofsaid leaves constituting a base leaf and. the other leaves each having athickened portion at its middle engaging the next adjacent leaf, theremainder of the length of each leaf being spaced from the correspondingportion of the adjacent leaf throughout their entire extent under normalconditions, whereby the-leaves will engage at their ends and beprogressively flexed as strain comes upon the spring, and means forholding the leaves in engagement with each other.

5. A composite vehicle spring comprising a plurality of superposed bowedleaves, the leaves being progressively shorter in one direction, one ofsaid leaves constituting a base leaf and the other leaves each having athickened portion at its middle engaging the the next adjacent leaf, theremainder of the leaf beyond this thickened portion being spaced fromand out of operative engage ment with the next adjacent leaf throughoutits entire extent, whereby the leaves will be progressively flexed asstrain comes upon the spring, the extremities of said thickened portionsbeing beveled.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of,two witnesses.

PHENNO L. 'rrrus.

Witnesses:

Mrs. P. L. Trrns, J. B. Trrns.

